Kelly Meets her Biological Mother After 37 Years!

Here in this clip from the Korean Broadcasting System documentary, my youngest brother Pyongsoo helps my mother down the front steps of her house.  Within minutes she will meet me for the first time in 37 years.  This is the story told in my memoir “Songs of My Families”.

My nephew Sungsoo is driving us from Daegon to Geumsan.  I try to soak in the beautiful landscape along the way.  This is my motherland, for goodness sake, the mountainous land from where I came.  But it’s no use.  I’m too tired to keep my head up.  I get as comfortable as I can and fall asleep.

My mother’s back is bent from years of hard work in the fields.  She sits in her walker and waits for her lost daughter.  Some of the neighbors start to gather around.  “Dudio” is the Korean word for “finally.”  You can hear the narrator say “Dudio” as the car arrives.

“Kelly,” Brad says, as he is getting out of the car.  “There’s your mother.”  He hugs her, and backs out of the way so she can make her way to me.

I can see her standing in front of the car.  She has dark-black curly hair and glasses.  I get out and we come together.  She cries my Korean name over and over again as she hugs me.  “Myhongiya!  Myhongiya!”  She touches my face so tenderly and brushes the hair back from my face.  I want so desperately to remember her, but I don’t.

My mother, when she was young, the day she wed my father

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cici greets her biological grandmother.  Brad’s got Max – still groggy from jetlag – practically draped over his shoulder. I’m so thankful Brad and the kids came with me on this trip.  I can’t imagine being here without them.  The emotion has already been so heavy.  There’s so much to process, so much to take in. I wouldn’t want to do this alone.

I look around for the translator each time my mother speaks to me, and it hits me.  Suddenly, I realize that I won’t be able to speak to my family.  We no longer share the same language, and it makes me sad.

We turn, all of us, and walk to my mother’s house.  Soon, we’ll be eating a wonderful feast!